- araratchurch
- May 6, 2024
- 3 min read
In preparation for our discussion over the next several days please read and meditate on the following scriptures:
“Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Worship the Lord in the beauty and majesty of His holiness [as the creator and source of holiness].”
Psalms 29:1-2 AMP
“Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.” Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.”
Psalms 96:9-13 NKJV
“Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house; So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him. And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The rich among the people will seek your favor. The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace; Her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors; The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You. With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; They shall enter the King’s palace.”
Psalms 45:10-15 NKJV
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!””
Isaiah 6:1-3 NKJV
“Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.””
Revelation 4:6, 8-11 NKJV
This week we continue our examination of true worship. As we shared in preparation for last week’s words: Worship is more than just a religious exercise. Worship is a different dimension in which the boundaries between our independent identity and the Almighty become blurred or totally removed. Through true worship, we can be transformed as we touch the face of God.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- May 4, 2024
- 4 min read
“Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.“
Psalms 5:7 NLT
David had finally come to reign over all Israel. At one point, David asked whether or not there was anyone left of the house of Saul to whom he could show kindness for Jonathan’s sake.
As you may remember, Jonathan was Saul’s son with whom David had entered into covenant.
Through one of Saul’s servants, Ziba, David finds out that one of Jonathan‘s sons was still alive. His name was Mephibosheth; and he was lame in his feet.
David sent for Mephibosheth to come before him. As well, David told Ziba, Saul’s servant, that he was going to give Mephibosheth all that had belonged to Saul and all his house. Ziba and his family were instructed to work for the benefit of Mephibosheth.
“Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my Lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.” “As for Mephibosheth,” said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.” So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king’s table. And he was lame in both his feet.“
II Samuel 9:11, 13 NKJV
But, David not only gave all that had been Saul’s to Mephibosheth, he brought him to live as one of his sons and to eat at his table!
You see, because of David‘s relationship with Jonathan, because of his love for Jonathan, he offered Mephibosheth sonship.
We are in the midst of discussing the essence of true worship. Think of it, had God not loved us first, we would never have been able to approach Him, much less have been able to share the intimacy of worship with Him.
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.“
I John 4:17-19 NKJV
Because of God’s great love for us, He sent His only Son to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.“
John 3:16 NKJV
Yes, now we can approach God without fear of being turned away, without fear of punishment.
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.“
Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV
We can boldly approach the throne of God through the work of Jesus Christ. We can worship Him in spirit and in truth, all because He loved us first.
Make no mistake, the roll of love in worship—although beginning with God’s love—also involves OUR love going toward Him. And—here’s the hard part—we cannot have true worship if we don’t love our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Let’s go a little further in the passage we considered above in 1 John:
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.“
I John 4:17-21 NKJV
True worship is within the context of our loving relationship with the God Who first loved us, as well as within the context of our love for the family of God.
In our opening scripture we see the psalmist extolling the fact that his worship is made possible by the steadfast love of God toward him.
Child of God, there is no true worship outside of the context of love. In the same way that Mephibosheth was only able to approach David—ultimately becoming like a son to him—because of David’s loving invitation, without God’s love, we would still be cowering from God in fear.
Finally, here is another portion of the prophetic lesson the Lord gave me in 2009 on the topic, “True Worship”:
“I Am Messiah. I Am the Good Shepherd. I Am the Christ of God. I have come to show you the glory of the Most High. I reach toward you, and you run away. I seek for you, and you hide. You have nothing to fear from Me. I Am your Father. I Am your Source. I Am assurance of your salvation. My presence assures you that I Am and that I seek you even at this moment.”
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- May 3, 2024
- 3 min read
“Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved.“
I Chronicles 16:29-30 NKJV
King David had ordered that a census be taken of Israel and Judah. This action caused the Lord to strike the people with a plague. Just before the Angel of the Lord destroyed Jerusalem, the Lord relented from the destruction. David then prayed for the Lord to have mercy on the people. The Lord instructed David to build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Araunah wanted to give the threshing floor to the king, rather than receiving money for it. David refused his offer.
“Now Araunah said to David, “Let my Lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.“
II Samuel 24:22-25 NKJV
Yes, David refused to present something to the Lord that had cost him nothing.
I remember as a child seeing the Armenians (in the Armenian church in Los Angeles, where my family members served) bringing an offering and placing it on the altar when they came with a request.
Now, we know that we do not “pay” the Lord for salvation, healing, direction, deliverance, and so on. But for them, this act of giving, was their way of honoring God.
Of course, there is nothing we could give to the Lord that isn’t already His. He is the Creator of all things. But—as the proverbial writer puts it—people present themselves before a great person with a gift.
“A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.“
Proverbs 18:16 NIV
In our opening scripture we see the instruction to give the Lord the glory due His name and bring an offering when coming before Him.
These words are part of a psalm King David presented to the musicians when the Ark was brought up from the house of Obed-Edom, to the tabernacle David had prepared for it in Jerusalem.
Indeed, David had a giving heart. You see, a grateful heart is a giving heart. And without gratitude, true worship is not possible.
We don’t always bring money or other material things to the Lord, but if our spirit is one of withholding, there will be no true exchange with the Lord. There will be no true worship.
Here is another portion of the prophetic lesson the Lord gave me in 2009 on the topic, “True Worship”:
“I am coming soon, and as the time of My appearing is approaching, the intensity of evil will also increase. Yet, at the same time, the fullness of My Presence will be entered by those who have been prepared and saved for this hour. The intense pressure you have felt is for the purpose of drawing you away from the anchors keeping you held to your failures, to your sorrow, and to your pain. Can you not see that I am standing close by you waiting for you to approach Me? How I long to embrace My beloved. How I long to restore the divine image in your heart and in your mind. You have too long been held in bondage. Bars of ignorance, pain, and fear have served to keep you from glimpsing what I have prepared for you.”
We’ll go further tomorrow.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!